Question

Based on this excerpt, what can be deduced about the reputation of Justinian?

Justinian's careful decisions made him many enemies during his time.

The reputation of Justinian as a strict follower of the law was not shared by all contemporaries.

The reputation of Justinian as a plunderer was shared by most in his time.

Justinian had a reputation of being a careful military strategist but a brutal conqueror

Answer 1

How could anyone put Justinian's ways into words? These and many even worse vices were disclosed in him as in no other mortal: nature seemed to have taken the wickedness of all other men combined and planted it in this man's soul. And besides this, he was too prone to listen to accusations; and too quick to punish. For he decided such cases without full examination, naming the punishment when he had heard only the accuser's side of the matter. Without hesitation he wrote decrees for the plundering of countries, sacking of cities, and slavery of whole nations, for no cause whatever. So that if one wished to take all the calamities which had befallen the Romans before this time and weigh them against his crimes, I think it would be found that more men had been murdered by this single man than in all previous history.
—Public Domain